Chapter XIII: Section I: Farghāna (2)

`Abdu'l-`alī Tarkhān was another, a near relation of Darwesh Muḥammad Tarkhān, possessor also of his younger sister,[219] that is to say, Bāqī Tarkhān's mother. Though both by the Mughūl rule (_tūrā_) and by his rank, Darwesh Muḥammad Tarkhān was the superior of `Abdu'l-`alī Tarkhān, this Pharoah regarded him not at all. For some years he had the Government of Bukhārā. His retainers were reckoned at [Sidenote: Fol. 22.] 3,000 and he kept them well and handsomely. His gifts (_bakhshīsh_), his visits of enquiry (_purshīsh_), his public audience (_dīwān_), his work-shops (_dast-gāh_), his open-table (_shīlān_) and his assemblies (_majlis_) were all like a king's. He was a strict disciplinarian, a tyrannical, vicious, self-infatuated person. Shaibānī Khān, though not his retainer, was with him for a time; most of the lesser (Shaibān) sulṯāns did themselves take service with him. This same `Abdu'l-`alī Tarkhān was the cause of Shaibānī Khān's rise to such a height and of the downfall of such ancient dynasties.[220]

Sayyid Yūsuf, the Grey Wolfer[221] was another; his grandfather will have come from the Mughūl horde; his father was favoured by Aūlūgh Beg Mīrzā (_Shāhrukhī_). His judgment and counsel were excellent; he had courage too. He played well on the guitar (_qūbuz_). He was with me when I first went to Kābul; I shewed him great favour and in truth he was worthy of favour. I left him in Kābul the first year the army rode out for Hindūstān; at that time he went to God's mercy.[222]

Darwesh Beg was another; he was of the line of Aīku-tīmūr Beg,[223] a favourite of Tīmūr Beg. He was a disciple of his Highness Khwāja `Ubaidu'l-lāh (_Aḥrārī_), had knowledge of the science of music, played several instruments and was naturally [Sidenote: Fol. 22b.] disposed to poetry. He was drowned in the Chīr at the time of Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā's discomfiture.

Muḥammad Mazīd Tarkhān was another, a younger full-brother of Darwesh Muḥ. Tarkhān. He was Governor in Turkistān for some years till Shaibānī Khān took it from him. His judgment and counsel were excellent; he was an unscrupulous and vicious person. The second and third times I took Samarkand, he came to my presence and each time I shewed him very great favour. He died in the fight at Kūl-i-malik (918 AH.-1512 AD.).

Bāqī Tarkhān was another, the son of `Abdu'l-`alī Tarkhān and Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā's aunt. When his father died, they gave him Bukhārā. He grew in greatness under Sl. `Alī Mīrzā, his retainers numbering 5 or 6,000. He was neither obedient nor very submissive to Sl. `Alī Mīrzā. He fought Shaibānī Khān at Dabūsī (905 AH.) and was crushed; by the help of this defeat, Shaibānī Khān went and took Bukhārā. He was very fond of hawking; they say he kept 700 birds. His manners and habits were not such as may be told;[224] he grew up with a Mīrzā's state and splendour. Because his father had shewn favour to Shaibānī Khān, he went to the Khān's presence, but that inhuman ingrate made him no sort of return in favour and kindness. [Sidenote: Fol. 23.] He left the world at Akhsī, in misery and wretchedness.

Sl. Ḥusain _Arghūn_ was another. He was known as Qarā-kūlī because he had held the Qarā-kūl government for a time. His judgment and counsel were excellent; he was long in my presence also.

Qulī Muḥammad _Būghdā_[225] was another, a _qūchīn_; he must have been a brave man.

`Abdu'l-karīm _Ishrit_[226] was another; he was an Aūīghūr, Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā's Lord of the Gate, a brave and generous man.

(_u. Historical narrative resumed._)

After Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā's death, his begs in agreement, sent a courier by the mountain-road to invite Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā.[227]

Malik-i-Muḥammad Mīrzā, the son of Minūchihr Mīrzā, Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā's eldest brother, aspired for his own part to rule. Having drawn a few adventurers and desperadoes to himself, they dribbled away[228] from (Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā's) camp and went to Samarkand. He was not able to effect anything, but he brought about his own death and that of several innocent persons of the ruling House.

At once on hearing of his brother's death, Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā went off to Samarkand and there seated himself on the throne, without difficulty. Some of his doings soon disgusted and alienated high and low, soldier and peasant. The first of these was that he sent the above-named Malik-i-Muḥammad to the [Sidenote: Fol. 23b.] Kūk-sarāī,[229] although he was his father's brother's son and his own son-in-law.[230] With him he sent others, four Mīrzās in all. Two of these he set aside; Malik-i-Muḥammad and one other he martyred. Some of the four were not even of ruling rank and had not the smallest aspiration to rule; though Malik-i-Muḥammad Mīrzā was a little in fault, in the rest there was no blame whatever. A second thing was that though his methods and regulations were excellent, and though he was expert in revenue matters and in the art of administration, his nature inclined to tyranny and vice. Directly he reached Samarkand, he began to make new regulations and arrangements and to rate and tax on a new basis. Moreover the dependants of his (late) Highness Khwāja `Ubaid'l-lāh, under whose protection formerly many poor and destitute persons had lived free from the burden of dues and imposts, were now themselves treated with harshness and oppression. On what ground should hardship have touched them? Nevertheless oppressive exactions were made from them, indeed from the Khwāja's very children. Yet another thing was that just as he was vicious and tyrannical, so were his begs, small and great, and his retainers and followers. The Ḥiṣārīs and in particular the followers of Khusrau Shāh engaged themselves unceasingly with wine and fornication. Once one of them enticed and took away a certain man's wife. [Sidenote: Fol. 24.]When her husband went to Khusrau Shāh and asked for justice, he received for answer: "She has been with you for several years; let her be a few days with him." Another thing was that the young sons of the townsmen and shopkeepers, nay! even of Turks and soldiers could not go out from their houses from fear of being taken for catamites. The Samarakandīs, having passed 20 or 25 years under Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā in ease and tranquillity, most matters carried through lawfully and with justice by his Highness the Khwāja, were wounded and troubled in heart and soul, by this oppression and this vice. Low and high, the poor, the destitute, all opened the mouth to curse, all lifted the hand for redress.

"Beware the steaming up of inward wounds,
For an inward wound at the last makes head;
Avoid while thou canst, distress to one heart,
For a single sigh will convulse a world."[231]

By reason of his infamous violence and vice Sl. Maḥmud Mīrzā did not rule in Samarkand more than five or six months.

900 AH.-OCT. 2ND. 1494 TO SEP. 21ST. 1495 AD.[232]

This year Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā sent an envoy, named `Abdu'l-qadūs Beg,[233] to bring me a gift from the wedding he had made with splendid festivity for his eldest son, Mas`ūd Mīrzā with (Ṣāliḥa-sulṯān), the Fair Begīm, the second daughter of his elder brother, Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā. They had sent gold and silver almonds and pistachios.

There must have been relationship between this envoy and Ḥasan-i-yaq`ūb, and on its account he will have been the man sent to make Ḥasan-i-yaq`ūb, by fair promises, look towards Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā. Ḥasan-i-yaq`ūb returned him a smooth answer, made indeed as though won over to his side, and gave him leave to go. Five or six months later, his manners changed entirely; he began to behave ill to those about me and to others, and he carried matters so far that he would have dismissed me in order to put Jahāngīr Mīrzā in my place. Moreover his conversation with the whole body of begs and soldiers was not what should be; every-one came to know what was in his mind. Khwāja-i-Qāzī and (Sayyid) Qāsim _Qūchīn_ and `Alī-dost T̤aghāī met other well-wishers of mine in the presence of my grandmother, Āīsān-daulat Begīm and decided to give quietus to Ḥasan-i-yaq`ūb's disloyalty by his deposition.

Few amongst women will have been my grandmother's equals for judgment and counsel; she was very wise and far-sighted and most affairs of mine were carried through under her advice. She and my mother were (living) in the Gate-house of the outer fort;[234] Ḥasan-i-yaq`ūb was in the citadel.

When I went to the citadel, in pursuance of our decision, he had ridden out, presumably for hawking, and as soon as he had [Sidenote: Fol. 25.] our news, went off from where he was towards Samarkand. The begs and others in sympathy with him,[235] were arrested; one was Muḥammad Bāqir Beg; Sl. Maḥmud _Dūldāī_, Sl. Muḥammad _Dūldāī's_ father, was another; there were several more; to some leave was given to go for Samarkand. The Andijān Government and control of my Gate were settled on (Sayyid) Qāsim _Qūchīn_.

A few days after Ḥasan-i-yaq`ūb reached Kand-i-badām on the Samarkand road, he went to near the Khūqān sub-division (_aūrchīn_) with ill-intent on Akhsī. Hearing of it, we sent several begs and braves to oppose him; they, as they went, detached a scouting party ahead; he, hearing this, moved against the detachment, surrounded it in its night-quarters[236] and poured flights of arrows (_shība_) in on it. In the darkness of the night an arrow (_aūq_), shot by one of his own men, hit him just (_aūq_) in the vent (_qāchār_) and before he could take vent (_qāchār_),[237] he became the captive of his own act.

"If you have done ill, keep not an easy mind,
For retribution is Nature's law."[238]

This year I began to abstain from all doubtful food, my obedience extended even to the knife, the spoon and the table-cloth;[239] also the after-midnight Prayer (_taḥajjud_) was [Sidenote: Fol. 25b.] less neglected.

(_a. Death of Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā._)

In the month of the latter Rabī` (January 1495 AD.), Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā was confronted by violent illness and in six days, passed from the world. He was 43 (lunar) years old.

_b. His birth and lineage._

He was born in 857 AH. (1453 AD.), was Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā's third son and the full-brother of Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā.[240]

_c. His appearance and characteristics._

He was a short, stout, sparse-bearded and somewhat ill-shaped person. His manners and his qualities were good, his rules and methods of business excellent; he was well-versed in accounts, not a _dinār_ or a _dirhām_[241] of revenue was spent without his knowledge. The pay of his servants was never disallowed. His assemblies, his gifts, his open table, were all good. Everything of his was orderly and well-arranged;[242] no soldier or peasant could deviate in the slightest from any plan of his. Formerly he must have been hard set (_qātīrār_) on hawking but latterly he very frequently hunted driven game.[243] He carried violence and vice to frantic excess, was a constant wine-bibber and kept many catamites. If anywhere in his territory, there was a handsome boy, he used, by whatever means, to have him brought for a catamite; of his begs' sons and of his sons' begs' sons he made catamites; and laid command for this service on [Sidenote: Fol. 26.] his very foster brothers and on their own brothers. So common in his day was that vile practice, that no person was without his catamite; to keep one was thought a merit, not to keep one, a defect. Through his infamous violence and vice, his sons died in the day of their strength (_tamām juwān_).

He had a taste for poetry and put a _dīwān_[244] together but his verse is flat and insipid,—not to compose is better than to compose verse such as his. He was not firm in the Faith and held his Highness Khwāja `Ubaidu'l-lāh (_Aḥrārī_) in slight esteem. He had no heart (_yūruk_) and was somewhat scant in modesty,—several of his impudent buffoons used to do their filthy and abominable acts in his full Court, in all men's sight. He spoke badly, there was no understanding him at first.

_d. His battles._

He fought two battles, both with Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā (_Bāīqarā_). The first was in Astarābād; here he was defeated. The second was at Chīkman (Sarāī),[245] near Andikhūd; here also he was defeated. He went twice to Kāfiristān, on the [Sidenote: Fol. 26b.] south of Badakhshān, and made Holy War; for this reason they wrote him Sl. Maḥmūd _Ghāzī_ in the headings of his public papers.

_e. His countries._

Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā gave him Astarābād.[246] After the `Irāq disaster (_i.e._, his father's death,) he went into Khurāsān. At that time, Qaṃbar-`alī Beg, the governor of Ḥiṣār, by Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā's orders, had mobilized the Hindūstān[247] army and was following him into `Irāq; he joined Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā in Khurāsān but the Khurāsānīs, hearing of Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā's approach, rose suddenly and drove them out of the country. On this Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā went to his elder brother, Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā in Samarkand. A few months later Sayyid Badr and Khusrau Shāh and some braves under Aḥmad _Mushtāq_[248] took him and fled to Qaṃbar-`alī in Ḥiṣār. From that time forth, Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā possessed the countries lying south of Quhqa (Quhlugha) and the Kohtin Range as far as the Hindū-kush Mountains, such as Tīrmīẕ, Chaghānīān, Ḥiṣār, Khutlān, Qūndūz and Badakhshān. He also held Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā's lands, after his brother's death.

_f. His children._

He had five sons and eleven daughters.

Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā was his eldest son; his mother was Khān-zāda [Sidenote: Fol 27.] Begīm, a daughter of the Great Mīr of Tīrmīẕ. Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā was another; his mother was Pasha (or Pāshā) Begīm. Sl. `Alī Mīrzā was another; his mother was an Aūzbeg, a concubine called Zuhra Begī Āghā. Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā was another; his mother was Khān-zāda Begīm, a grand-daughter of the Great Mīr of Tīrmīẕ; he went to God's mercy in his father's life-time, at the age of 13. Sl. Wais Mīrzā (Mīrzā Khān) was another; his mother, Sulṯān-nigār Khānīm was a daughter of Yūnas Khān and was a younger (half-) sister of my mother. The affairs of these four Mīrzās will be written of in this history under the years of their occurrence.

Of Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā's daughters, three were by the same mother as Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā. One of these, Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā's senior, Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā made to go out to Malik-i-muḥammad Mīrzā, the son of his paternal uncle, Minūchihr Mīrzā.[249]

* * * * *

Five other daughters were by Khān-zāda Begīm, the grand-daughter of the Great Mīr of Tīrmīẕ. The oldest of these, (Khān-zāda Begīm)[250] was given, after her father's death, to Abā-bikr [Sidenote: Fol. 27b.] (_Dūghlāt_) _Kāshgharī_. The second was Bega Begīm. When Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā besieged Ḥiṣār (901 AH.), he took her for Ḥaidar Mīrzā, his son by Pāyanda Begīm, Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā's daughter, and having done so, rose from before the place.[251] The third daughter was Āq (Fair) Begīm; the fourth[252]—,was betrothed to Jahāngīr Mīrzā (_aet._ 5, _circa_ 895 AH.) at the time his father, `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā sent him to help Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā with the Andijān army, against Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā, then attacking Qūndūz.[253] In 910 AH. (1504 AD.) when Bāqī _Chaghānīānī_[254] waited on me on the bank of the Amū (Oxus), these (last-named two) Begīms were with their mothers in Tīrmīẕ and joined me then with Bāqī's family. When we reached Kahmard, Jahāngīr Mīrzā took —-- Begīm; one little daughter was born; she now[255] is in the Badakhshān country with her grandmother. The fifth daughter was Zainab-sulṯān Begīm; under my mother's insistence, I took her at the time of the capture of Kābul (910 AH.-Oct. 1504 AD.). She did not become very congenial; two or three years later, she left the world, through small-pox. Another daughter was Makhdūm-sulṯān Begīm, Sl. `Alī Mīrzā's full-sister; she is now in the Badakhshān country. Two others of his daughters, Rajab-sulṯān and Muḥibb-sulṯān, were by mistresses (_ghūnchachī_).

_g. His ladies_ (_khwātīnlār_) _and concubines_ (_sarārī_).

His chief wife, Khān-zāda Begīm, was a daughter of the [Sidenote: Fol. 28.] Great Mīr of Tirmīẕ; he had great affection for her and must have mourned her bitterly; she was the mother of Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā. Later on, he took her brother's daughter, also called Khān-zāda Begīm, a grand-daughter of the Great Mīr of Tīrmīẕ. She became the mother of five of his daughters and one of his sons. Pasha (or Pāshā) Begīm was another wife, a daughter of `Alī-shukr Beg, a Turkmān Beg of the Black Sheep Bahārlū Aīmāq.[256] She had been the wife of Jahān-shāh (_Barānī_) of the Black Sheep Turkmāns. After Aūzūn (Long) Ḥasan Beg of the White Sheep had taken Āẕar-bāījān and `Irāq from the sons of this Jahān-shāh Mīrzā (872 AH.-1467 AD.), `Alī-shukr Beg's sons went with four or five thousand heads-of-houses of the Black Sheep Turkmāns to serve Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā and after the Mīrzā's defeat (873 AH. by Aūzūn Ḥasan), came down to these countries and took service with Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā. This happened after Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā came to Ḥiṣār from Samarkand, and then it was he took Pasha Begīm. She became the mother of one of his sons and three of his daughters. Sulṯān-nigār Khānīm was another of his ladies; her descent has been mentioned already in the account of the (Chaghatāī) Khāns. [Sidenote: Fol. 28b.]

He had many concubines and mistresses. His most honoured concubine (_mu`atabar ghūma_) was Zuhra Begī Āghā; she was taken in his father's life-time and became the mother of one son and one daughter. He had many mistresses and, as has been said, two of his daughters were by two of them.

_h. His amirs._

Khusrau Shāh was of the Turkistānī Qīpchāqs. He had been in the intimate service of the Tarkhān begs, indeed had been a catamite. Later on he became a retainer of Mazīd Beg (Tarkhān) _Arghūn_ who favoured him in all things. He was favoured by Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā on account of services done by him when, after the `Irāq disaster, he joined the Mīrzā on his way to Khurāsān. He waxed very great in his latter days; his retainers, under Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā, were a clear five or six thousand. Not only Badakhshān but the whole country from the Amū to the Hindū-kush Mountains depended on him and he devoured its whole revenue (_darobast yīr īdī_). His open table was good, so too his open hand; though he was a rough getter,[257] what he got, he spent liberally. He waxed exceeding great after Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā's death, in whose sons' time his retainers approached 20,000. Although he prayed and abstained from forbidden aliments, yet was he black-souled and vicious, [Sidenote: Fol. 29.] dunder-headed and senseless, disloyal and a traitor to his salt. For the sake of this fleeting, five-days world,[258] he blinded one of his benefactor's sons and murdered another. A sinner before God, reprobate to His creatures, he has earned curse and execration till the very verge of Resurrection. For this world's sake he did his evil deeds and yet, with lands so broad and with such hosts of armed retainers, he had not pluck to stand up to a hen. An account of him will come into this history.

Pīr-i-muḥammad _Aīlchī-būghā[259] Qūchīn_ was another. In Hazārāspī's fight[260] he got in one challenge with his fists in Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā's presence at the Gate of Balkh. He was a brave man, continuously serving the Mīrzā (Maḥmūd) and guiding him by his counsel. Out of rivalry to Khusrau Shāh, he made a night-attack when the Mīrzā was besieging Qūndūz, on Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā, with few men, without arming[261] and without plan; he could do nothing; what was there he could do against such and so large a force? He was pursued, threw himself into the river and was drowned.

Ayūb (_Begchīk Mughūl_)[262] was another. He had served in Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā's Khurāsān Cadet Corps, a brave man, Bāīsunghar Mīrzā's guardian. He was choice in dress and food; a jester and talkative, nicknamed Impudence, perhaps because the Mīrzā called him so. [Sidenote: Fol. 29b.]

Walī was another, the younger, full-brother of Khusrau Shāh. He kept his retainers well. He it was brought about the blinding of Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā and the murder of Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā. He had an ill-word for every-one and was an evil-tongued, foul-mouthed, self-pleasing and dull-witted mannikin. He approved of no-one but himself. When I went from the Qūndūz country to near Dūshī (910 AH.-1503 AD.), separated Khusrau Shāh from his following and dismissed him, this person (_i.e._, Walī) had come to Andar-āb and Sīr-āb, also in fear of the Aūzbegs. The Aīmāqs of those parts beat and robbed him[263] then, having let me know, came on to Kābul. Walī went to Shaibānī Khān who had his head struck off in the town of Samarkand.

Shaikh `Abdu'l-lāh _Barlās_[264] was another; he had to wife one of the daughters of Shāh Sulṯān Muḥammad (_Badakhshī_) _i.e._, the maternal aunt of Abā-bikr Mīrzā (_Mīrān-shāhī_) and of Sl. Maḥmūd Khān. He wore his tunic narrow and _pur shaqq_[265]; he was a kindly well-bred man.

Maḥmūd _Barlās_ of the Barlāses of Nūndāk (Badakhshān) was another. He had been a beg also of Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā and had surrendered Karmān to him when the Mīrzā took the `Irāq countries. When Abā-bikr Mīrzā (_Mīrān-shāhī_) came [Sidenote: Fol. 30.] against Ḥiṣār with Mazīd Beg Tarkhān and the Black Sheep Turkmāns, and Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā went off to his elder brother, Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā in Samarkand, Maḥmūd _Barlās_ did not surrender Ḥiṣār but held out manfully.[266] He was a poet and put a _dīwān_ together.

(_i. Historical narrative resumed_).

When Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā died, Khusrau Shāh kept the event concealed and laid a long hand on the treasure. But how could such news be hidden? It spread through the town at once. That was a festive day for the Samarkand families; soldier and peasant, they uprose in tumult against Khusrau Shāh. Aḥmad Ḥājī Beg and the Tarkhānī begs put the rising down and turned Khusrau Shāh out of the town with an escort for Ḥiṣār.

As Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā himself after giving Ḥiṣār to Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā and Bukhārā to Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā, had dismissed both to their governments, neither was present when he died. The Ḥiṣār and Samarkand begs, after turning Khusrau Shāh out, agreed to send for Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā from Bukhārā, brought him to Samarkand and seated him on the throne. When he thus became supreme (_pādshāh_), he was 18 (lunar) years old.

At this crisis, Sl. Maḥmūd Khān (_Chaghatāī_), acting on the [Sidenote: Fol. 30b.] word of Junaid _Barlās_ and of some of the notables of Samarkand, led his army out to near Kān-bāī with desire to take that town. Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā, on his side, marched out in force. They fought near Kān-bāī. Ḥaidar _Kūkūldāsh_, the main pillar of the Mughūl army, led the Mughūl van. He and all his men dismounted and were pouring in flights of arrows (_shība_) when a large body of the mailed braves of Ḥiṣār and Samarkand made an impetuous charge and straightway laid them under their horses' feet. Their leader taken, the Mughūl army was put to rout without more fighting. Masses (_qālīn_) of Mughūls were wiped out; so many were beheaded in Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā's presence that his tent was three times shifted because of the number of the dead.

At this same crisis, Ibrāhīm _Sārū_ entered the fort of Asfara, there read Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā's name in the _Khuṯba_ and took up a position of hostility to me.

(_Author's note._) Ibrāhīm _Sārū_ is of the Mīnglīgh
people;[267] he had served my father in various ways from his
childhood but later on had been dismissed for some fault.

[Sidenote: Fol. 31.] The army rode out to crush this rebellion in the month of Sha'bān (May) and by the end of it, had dismounted round Asfara. Our braves in the wantonness of enterprise, on the very day of arrival, took the new wall[268] that was in building outside the fort. That day Sayyid Qāsim, Lord of my Gate, out-stripped the rest and got in with his sword; Sl. Aḥmad _Taṃbal_ and Muḥammad-dost T̤aghāī got theirs in also but Sayyid Qāsim won the Champion's Portion. He took it in Shāhrukhiya when I went to see my mother's brother, Sl. Maḥmūd Khān.

(_Author's note._) The Championship Portion[269] is an ancient
usage of the Mughūl horde. Whoever outdistanced his tribe and
got in with his own sword, took the portion at every feast and
entertainment.

My guardian, Khudāī-bīrdī Beg died in that first day's fighting, struck by a cross-bow arrow. As the assault was made without armour, several bare braves (_yīkīt yīlāng_)[270] perished and many were wounded. One of Ibrāhīm _Sārū's_ cross-bowmen was an excellent shot; his equal had never been seen; he it was hit most of those wounded. When Asfara had been taken, he entered my service.

As the siege drew on, orders were given to construct head-strikes[271] in two or three places, to run mines and to make every [Sidenote: Fol. 31b.] effort to prepare appliances for taking the fort. The siege lasted 40 days; at last Ibrāhīm _Sārū_ had no resource but, through the mediation of Khwāja Moulānā-i-qāẓī, to elect to serve me. In the month of Shawwāl (June 1495 A.D.) he came out, with his sword and quiver hanging from his neck, waited on me and surrendered the fort.

Khujand for a considerable time had been dependent on `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā's Court (_dīwān_) but of late had looked towards Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā on account of the disturbance in the Farghāna government during the interregnum.[272] As the opportunity offered, a move against it also was now made. Mīr Mughūl's father, `Abdu'l-wahhāb _Shaghāwal_[273] was in it; he surrendered without making any difficulty at once on our arrival.

Just then Sl. Maḥmūd Khān was in Shāhrukhiya. It has been said already that when Sl. Aḥmad Mīrzā came into Andijān (899 AH.), he also came and that he laid siege to Akhsī. It occurred to me that if since I was so close, I went and waited on him, he being, as it were, my father and my elder brother, and if bye-gone resentments were laid aside, it would be good hearing and seeing for far and near. So said, I went.

I waited on The Khān in the garden Ḥaidar _Kūkūldāsh_ had made outside Shāhrukhiya. He was seated in a large four-doored [Sidenote: Fol. 32.] tent set up in the middle of it. Having entered the tent, I knelt three times,[274] he for his part, rising to do me honour. We looked one another in the eyes;[275] and he returned to his seat. After I had kneeled, he called me to his side and shewed me much affection and friendliness. Two or three days later, I set off for Akhsī and Andijān by the Kīndīrlīk Pass.[276] At Akhsī I made the circuit of my Father's tomb. I left at the hour of the Friday Prayer (_i.e._, about midday) and reached Andijān, by the Band-i-sālār Road between the Evening and Bedtime Prayers. This road _i.e._ the Band-i-sālār, people call a nine _yīghāch_ road.[277]

One of the tribes of the wilds of Andijān is the Jīgrāk[278] a numerous people of five or six thousand households, dwelling in the mountains between Kāshghar and Farghāna. They have many horses and sheep and also numbers of yāks (_qūtās_), these hill-people keeping yāks instead of common cattle. As their mountains are border-fastnesses, they have a fashion of not paying tribute. An army was now sent against them under (Sayyid) Qāsim Beg in order that out of the tribute taken from them something might reach the soldiers. He took about 20,000 of their sheep and between 1000 and 1500 of their horses and shared all out to the men.

After its return from the Jīgrāk, the army set out for Aūrā-tīpā. [Sidenote: Fol. 34.] Formerly this was held by `Umar Shaikh Mīrzā but it had gone out of hand in the year of his death and Sl. `Alī Mīrzā was now in it on behalf of his elder brother, Bāīsunghar Mīrzā. When Sl. `Alī Mīrzā heard of our coming, he went off himself to the Macha hill-country, leaving his guardian, Shaikh Ẕū'n-nūn _Arghūn_ behind. From half-way between Khujand and Aūrā-tīpā, Khalīfa[279] was sent as envoy to Shaikh Ẕū'n-nūn but that senseless mannikin, instead of giving him a plain answer, laid hands on him and ordered him to death. For Khalīfa to die cannot have been the Divine will; he escaped and came to me two or three days later, stripped bare and having suffered a hundred _tūmāns_ (1,000,000) of hardships and fatigues. We went almost to Aūrā-tīpā but as, winter being near, people had carried away their corn and forage, after a few days we turned back for Andijān. After our retirement, The Khān's men moved on the place when the Aūrā-tīpā person[280] unable to make a stand, surrendered and came out. The Khān then gave it to Muḥammad Ḥusain _Kūrkān Dūghlāt_ and in his hands it remained till 908 AH. (1503).[281]

901 AH.—SEP. 21ST. 1495 TO SEP. 9TH. 1496 AD.[282]

(_a. Sulṯān Ḥusain Mīrzā's campaign against Khusrau Shāh_).

In the winter of this year, Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā led his army out of Khurāsān against Ḥiṣār and went to opposite Tīrmīẕ. Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā, for his part, brought an army (from Ḥiṣār) and sat down over against him in Tīrmīẕ. Khusrau Shāh strengthened himself in Qūndūz and to help Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā sent his younger brother, Walī. They (_i.e._, the opposed forces) spent most of that winter on the river's banks, no crossing being effected. Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā was a shrewd and experienced commander; he marched up the river,[283] his face set for Qūndūz and by this having put Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā off his guard, sent `Abdu'l-laṯīf _Bakhshī_ (pay-master) with 5 or 600 serviceable men, down the river to the Kilīf ferry. These crossed and had entrenched themselves on the other bank before Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā had heard of their movement. When he did hear of it, whether because of pressure put upon him by Bāqī _Chaghānīānī_ to spite (his half-brother) Walī, or whether from his own want of heart, he did not march against those who had crossed but disregarding Walī's urgency, at once broke up his camp and turned for Ḥiṣār.[284]

Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā crossed the river and then sent, (1) against Khusrau Shāh, Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā and Ibrāhīm Ḥusain Mīrzā with Muḥammad Walī Beg and Ẕū'n-nūn _Arghūn_, and [Sidenote: Fol. 33b.] (2) against Khutlān, Muz̤affar Ḥusain Mīrzā with Muḥammad _Barandūq Barlās_. He himself moved for Ḥiṣār.

When those in Ḥiṣār heard of his approach, they took their precautions; Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā did not judge it well to stay in the fort but went off up the Kām Rūd valley[285] and by way of Sara-tāq to his younger brother, Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā in Samarkand. Walī, for his part drew off to (his own district) Khutlān. Bāqī _Chaghānīānī_, Maḥmūd _Barlās_ and Qūch Beg's father, Sl. Aḥmad strengthened the fort of Ḥiṣār. Ḥamza Sl. and Mahdī Sl. (_Aūzbeg_) who some years earlier had left Shaibānī Khān for (the late) Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā's service, now, in this dispersion, drew off with all their Aūzbegs, for Qarā-tīgīn. With them went Muḥammad _Dūghlāt_[286] and Sl. Ḥusain _Dūghlāt_ and all the Mughūls located in the Ḥiṣār country.

Upon this Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā sent Abū'l-muḥsin Mīrzā after Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā up the Kām Rūd valley. They were not strong enough for such work when they reached the defile.[287] There Mīrzā Beg _Fīringī-bāz_[288] got in his sword. In pursuit of Ḥamza Sl. into Qarā-tīgīn, Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā sent Ibrāhīm Tarkhān and Yaq`ūb-i-ayūb. They overtook the sulṯāns and [Sidenote: Fol. 33.] fought. The Mīrzā's detachment was defeated; most of his begs were unhorsed but all were allowed to go free.

(_b. Bābur's reception of the Aūzbeg sulṯāns._)

As a result of this exodus, Ḥamza Sl. with his son, Mamāq Sl., and Mahdī Sl. and Muḥammad _Dūghlāt_, later known as _Ḥiṣārī_ and his brother, Sl. Ḥusain _Dūghlāt_ with the Aūzbegs dependent on the sulṯāns and the Mughūls who had been located in Ḥiṣār as (the late) Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā's retainers, came, after letting me know (their intention), and waited upon me in Ramẓān (May-June) at Andijān. According to the custom of Tīmūriya sulṯāns on such occasions, I had seated myself on a raised seat (_tūshāk_); when Ḥamza Sl. and Mamāq Sl. and Mahdī Sl. entered, I rose and went down to do them honour; we looked one another in the eyes and I placed them on my right, _bāghīsh dā_.[289] A number of Mughūls also came, under Muḥammad _Ḥiṣārī_; all elected for my service.

(_c. Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā's affairs resumed_).

Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā, on reaching Ḥiṣār, settled down at once to besiege it. There was no rest, day nor night, from the labours of mining and attack, of working catapults and mortars. Mines were run in four or five places. When one had gone well forward towards the Gate, the townsmen, countermining, struck it and forced smoke down on the Mīrzā's men; they, in turn, [Sidenote: Fol. 34b.] closed the hole, thus sent the smoke straight back and made the townsmen flee as from the very maw of death. In the end, the townsmen drove the besiegers out by pouring jar after jar of water in on them. Another day, a party dashed out from the town and drove off the Mīrzā's men from their own mine's mouth. Once the discharges from catapults and mortars in the Mīrzā's quarters on the north cracked a tower of the fort; it fell at the Bed-time Prayer; some of the Mīrzā's braves begged to assault at once but he refused, saying, "It is night." Before the shoot of the next day's dawn, the besieged had rebuilt the whole tower. That day too there was no assault; in fact, for the two to two and a half months of the siege, no attack was made except by keeping up the blockade,[290] by mining, rearing head-strikes,[291] and discharging stones.

When Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā and whatever (_nī kīm_) troops had been sent with him against Khusrau Shāh, dismounted some 16 m. (3 to 4 _yīghāch_) below Qūndūz,[292] Khusrau Shāh arrayed whatever men (_nī kīm_) he had, marched out, halted one night on the way, formed up to fight and came down upon the Mīrzā and his men. The Khurāsānīs may not have been twice as many as his men but what question is there they were half [Sidenote: Fol. 35.] as many more? None the less did such Mīrzās and such Commander-begs elect for prudence and remain in their entrenchments! Good and bad, small and great, Khusrau Shāh's force may have been of 4 or 5,000 men!

This was the one exploit of his life,—of this man who for the sake of this fleeting and unstable world and for the sake of shifting and faithless followers, chose such evil and such ill-repute, practised such tyranny and injustice, seized such wide lands, kept such hosts of retainers and followers,—latterly he led out between 20 and 30,000 and his countries and his districts (_parganāt_) exceeded those of his own ruler and that ruler's sons,[293]—for an exploit such as this his name and the names of his adherents were noised abroad for generalship and for this they were counted brave, while those timorous laggards, in the trenches, won the resounding fame of cowards.

Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā marched out from that camp and after a few stages reached the Alghū Mountain of Tāliqān[294] and there made halt. Khusrau Shāh, in Qūndūz, sent his brother, Walī, with serviceable men, to Ishkīmīsh, Fulūl and the hill-skirts thereabouts to annoy and harass the Mīrzā from outside also. Muḥibb-`alī, the armourer, (_qūrchī_) for his part, came down [Sidenote: Fol. 35b.] (from Walī's Khutlān) to the bank of the Khutlān Water, met in with some of the Mīrzā's men there, unhorsed some, cut off a few heads and got away. In emulation of this, Sayyidīm `Alī[295] the door-keeper, and his younger brother, Qulī Beg and Bihlūl-i-ayūb and a body of their men got to grips with the Khurāsānīs on the skirt of `Aṃbar Koh, near Khwāja Changāl but, many Khurāsānīs coming up, Sayyidīm `Alī and Bābā Beg's (son) Qulī Beg and others were unhorsed.

At the time these various news reached Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā, his army was not without distress through the spring rains of Ḥiṣār; he therefore brought about a peace; Maḥmūd _Barlās_ came out from those in the fort; Ḥājī Pīr the Taster went from those outside; the great commanders and what there was (_nī kīm_) of musicians and singers assembled and the Mīrzā took (Bega Begīm), the eldest[296] daughter of Sl. Maḥmūd Mīrzā by Khān-zāda Begīm, for Ḥaidar Mīrzā, his son by Pāyanda Begīm and through her the grandson of Sl. Abū-sa`īd Mīrzā. This done, he rose from before Ḥiṣār and set his face for Qūndūz.

At Qūndūz also Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā made a few trenches and took up the besieger's position but by Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā's intervention peace at length was made, prisoners were exchanged and the Khurāsānīs retired. The twice-repeated[297] attacks made by Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā on Khusrau Shāh and his unsuccessful retirements were the cause of Khusrau Shāh's [Sidenote: Fol. 36.] great rise and of action of his so much beyond his province.

When the Mīrzā reached Balkh, he, in the interests of [M.]ā warā'u'n-nahr gave it to Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā, gave Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā's district of Astarābād to (a younger son), Muz̤affar Ḥusain Mīrzā and made both kneel at the same assembly, one for Balkh, the other for Astarābād. This offended Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā and led to years of rebellion and disturbance.[298]

(_d. Revolt of the Tarkhānīs in Samarkand_).

In Ramẓān of this same year, the Tarkhānīs revolted in Samarkand. Here is the story:—Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā was not so friendly and familiar with the begs and soldiers of Samarkand as he was with those of Ḥiṣār.[299] His favourite beg was Shaikh `Abdu'l-lāh _Barlās_[300] whose sons were so intimate with the Mīrzā that it made a relation as of Lover and Beloved. These things displeased the Tarkhāns and the Samarkandī begs; Darwesh Muḥammad Tarkhān went from Bukhārā to Qarshī, brought Sl. `Alī Mīrzā to Samarkand and raised him to be supreme. People then went to the New Garden where Bāī-sunghar [Sidenote: Fol. 36b.] Mīrzā was, treated him like a prisoner, parted him from his following and took him to the citadel. There they seated both mīrzās in one place, thinking to send Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā to the Gūk Sarāī close to the Other Prayer. The Mīrzā, however, on plea of necessity, went into one of the palace-buildings on the east side of the Bū-stān Sarāī. Tarkhānīs stood outside the door and with him went in Muḥammad Qulī _Qūchīn_ and Ḥasan, the sherbet-server. To be brief:—A gateway, leading out to the back, must have been bricked up for they broke down the obstacle at once. The Mīrzā got out of the citadel on the Kafshīr side, through the water-conduit (_āb-mūrī_), dropped himself from the rampart of the water-way (_dū-tahī_), and went to Khwājakī Khwāja's[301] house in Khwāja Kafshīr. When the Tarkhānīs, in waiting at the door, took the precaution of looking in, they found him gone. Next day the Tarkhānīs went in a large body to Khwājakī Khwāja's gate but the Khwāja said, "No!"[302] and did not give him up. Even they could not take him by force, the Khwāja's dignity was too great for them to be able to use force. A few days later, Khwāja Abu'l-makāram[303] and Aḥmad Ḥājī Beg and other begs, great and [Sidenote: Fol. 37.] small, and soldiers and townsmen rose in a mass, fetched the Mīrzā away from the Khwāja's house and besieged Sl. `Ali Mīrzā and the Tarkhāns in the citadel. They could not hold out for even a day; Muḥ. Mazīd Tarkhān went off through the Gate of the Four Roads for Bukhārā; Sl. `Alī Mīrzā and Darwesh Muḥ. Tarkhān were made prisoner.

Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā was in Aḥmad Ḥājī Beg's house when people brought Darwesh Muḥammad Tarkhān in. He put him a few questions but got no good answer. In truth Darwesh Muḥammad's was a deed for which good answer could not be made. He was ordered to death. In his helplessness he clung to a pillar[304] of the house; would they let him go because he clung to a pillar? They made him reach his doom (_siyāsat_) and ordered Sl. `Alī Mīrzā to the Gūk Sarāī there to have the fire-pencil drawn across his eyes.

(_Author's note._) The Gūk Sarāī is one of Tīmūr Beg's great
buildings in the citadel of Samarkand. It has this singular
and special characteristic, if a Tīmūrid is to be seated on
the throne, here he takes his seat; if one lose his head,
coveting the throne, here he loses it; therefore the name Gūk
Sarāī has a metaphorical sense (_kināyat_) and to say of any
ruler's son, "They have taken him to the Gūk Sarāī," means, to
death.[305]

To the Gūk Sarāī accordingly Sl. `Alī Mīrzā was taken but when the fire-pencil was drawn across his eyes, whether by the surgeon's choice or by his inadvertence, no harm was done. [Sidenote: Fol. 37b.] This the Mīrzā did not reveal at once but went to Khwāja Yahya's house and a few days later, to the Tarkhāns in Bukhārā.

Through these occurrences, the sons of his Highness Khwāja `Ubaidu'l-lāh became settled partisans, the elder (Muḥammad `Ubaidu'l-lāh, Khwājakī Khwāja) becoming the spiritual guide of the elder prince, the younger (Yahya) of the younger. In a few days, Khwāja Yahya followed Sl. `Alī Mīrzā to Bukhārā.

Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā led out his army against Bukhārā. On his approach, Sl. `Alī Mīrzā came out of the town, arrayed for battle. There was little fighting; Victory being on the side of Sl. `Alī Mīrzā, Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā sustained defeat. Aḥmad Ḥājī Beg and a number of good soldiers were taken; most of the men were put to death. Aḥmad Ḥājī Beg himself the slaves and slave-women of Darwesh Muḥammad Tarkhān, issuing out of Bukhārā, put to a dishonourable death on the charge of their master's blood.

(_e. Bābur moves against Samarkand._)

These news reached us in Andijān in the month of Shawwāl (mid-June to mid-July) and as we (_act._ 14) coveted Samarkand, we got our men to horse. Moved by a like desire, Sl. Mas'ūd Mīrzā, his mind and Khusrau Shāh's mind set at ease by Sl. [Sidenote: Fol. 38.] Ḥusain Mīrzā's retirement, came over by way of Shahr-i-sabz.[306] To reinforce him, Khusrau Shāh laid hands (_qāptī_) on his younger brother, Walī. We (three mīrzās) beleaguered the town from three sides during three or four months; then Khwāja Yahya came to me from Sl. `Alī Mīrzā to mediate an agreement with a common aim. The matter was left at an interview arranged (_kūrūshmak_); I moved my force from Soghd to some 8m. below the town; Sl. `Alī Mīrzā from his side, brought his own; from one bank, he, from the other, I crossed to the middle of[307] the Kohik water, each with four or five men; we just saw one another (_kūrūshūb_), asked each the other's welfare and went, he his way, I mine.

I there saw, in Khwāja Yahya's service, Mullā _Binā'ī_ and Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ;[308] the latter I saw this once, the former was long in my service later on. After the interview (_kūrūshkān_) with Sl. `Alī Mīrzā, as winter was near and as there was no great scarcity amongst the Samarkandīs, we retired, he to Bukhārā, I to Andijān.

Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā had a penchant for a daughter of Shaikh `Abdu'l-lāh _Barlās_, she indeed was his object in coming to Samarkand. He took her, laid world-gripping ambition aside [Sidenote: Fol. 38b.] and went back to Ḥiṣār.

When I was near Shīrāz and Kān-bāī, Mahdī Sl. deserted to Samarkand; Ḥamza Sl. went also from near Zamīn but with leave granted.

902 AH.—SEP. 9TH. 1496 TO AUG. 30TH. 1497 AD.[309]

(_a. Bābur's second attempt on Samarkand._)

This winter, Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā's affairs were altogether in a good way. When `Abdu'l-karīm _Ushrit_ came on Sl. `Alī Mīrzā's part to near Kūfīn, Mahdī Sl. led out a body of Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā's troops against him. The two commanders meeting exactly face to face, Mahdī Sl. pricked `Abdu'l-karīm's horse with his Chirkas[310] sword so that it fell, and as `Abdu'l-karīm was getting to his feet, struck off his hand at the wrist. Having taken him, they gave his men a good beating.

These (Aūzbeg) sulṯāns, seeing the affairs of Samarkand and the Gates of the (Tīmūrid) Mīrzās tottering to their fall, went off in good time (_āīrtā_) into the open country (?)[311] for Shaibānī.

Pleased[312] with their small success (over `Abdu'l-karīm), the Samarkandīs drew an army out against Sl. `Alī Mīrzā; Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā went to Sar-i-pul (Bridge-head), Sl. `Alī Mīrzā to Khwāja Kārzūn. Meantime, Khwāja Abū'l-makāram, at the instigation of Khwāja Munīr of Aūsh, rode light against [Sidenote: Fol. 39.] Bukhārā with Wais _Lāgharī_ and Muḥammad Bāqir of the Andijān begs, and Qāsim _Dūldāī_ and some of the Mīrzā's household. As the Bukhāriots took precautions when the invaders got near the town, they could make no progress. They therefore retired.

At the time when (last year) Sl. `Alī Mīrzā and I had our interview, it had been settled[313] that this summer he should come from Bukhārā and I from Andijān to beleaguer Samarkand. To keep this tryst, I rode out in Ramẓān (May) from Andijān. Hearing when close to Yār Yīlāq, that the (two) Mīrzās were lying front to front, we sent Tūlūn Khwāja _Mūghūl_[314] ahead, with 2 or 300 scouting braves (_qāzāq yīkītlār_). Their approach giving Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā news of our advance, he at once broke up and retired in confusion. That same night our detachment overtook his rear, shot a mass (_qālīn_) of his men and brought in masses of spoil.

Two days later we reached Shīrāz. It belonged to Qāsim Beg _Dūldāī_; his _dārogha_ (Sub-governor) could not hold it and surrendered.[315] It was given into Ibrāhīm _Sārū's_ charge. After making there, next day, the Prayer of the Breaking of the Fast (_`Īdu'l-fiṯr_), we moved for Samarkand and dismounted in the reserve (_qūrūgh_) of Āb-i-yār (Water of Might). That day waited on me with 3 or 400 men, Qāsim _Dūldāī_, [Sidenote: Fol. 39b.] Wais _Lāgharī_, Muḥammad Sīghal's grandson, Ḥasan,[316] and Sl. Muḥammad Wais. What they said was this: 'Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā came out and has gone back; we have left him therefore and are here for the _pādshāh's_ service,' but it was known later that they must have left the Mīrzā at his request to defend Shīrāz, and that the Shīrāz affair having become what it was, they had nothing for it but to come to us.

When we dismounted at Qarā-būlāq, they brought in several Mughūls arrested because of senseless conduct to humble village elders coming in to us.[317] Qāsim Beg _Qūchīn_ for discipline's sake (_siyāsat_) had two or three of them cut to pieces. It was on this account he left me and went to Ḥiṣār four or five years later, in the guerilla times, (907 AH.) when I was going from the Macha country to The Khān.[318]

Marching from Qarā-būlāq, we crossed the river (_i.e._ the Zar-afshān) and dismounted near Yām.[319] On that same day, our men got to grips with Bāī-sunghar Mīrzā's at the head of the Avenue. Sl. Aḥmad _Taṃbal_ was struck in the neck by a spear but not unhorsed. Khwājakī Mullā-i-ṣadr, Khwāja-i-kalān's eldest brother, was pierced in the nape of the neck[320] by an arrow and went straightway to God's mercy. An excellent soldier, my father before me had favoured him, making him Keeper of the Seal; he was a student of theology, had great [Sidenote: Fol. 40.] acquaintance with words and a good style; moreover he undertook hawking and rain-making with the jade-stone.

While we were at Yām, people, dealers and other, came out in crowds so that the camp became a bazar for buying and selling. One day, at the Other Prayer, suddenly, a general hubbub arose and all those Musalmān (traders) were plundered. Such however was the discipline of our army that an order to restore everything having been given, the first watch (_pahār_) of the next day had not passed before nothing, not a tag of cotton, not a broken needle's point, remained in the possession of any man of the force, all was back with its owners.

Marching from Yām, it was dismounted in Khān Yūrtī (The Khān's Camping Ground),[321] some 6 m. (3 _kuroh_) east of Samarkand. We lay there for 40 or 50 days. During the time, men from their side and from ours chopped at one another (_chāpqū-lāshtīlār_) several times in the Avenue. One day when Ibrāhīm _Begchīk_ was chopping away there, he was cut on the face; thereafter people called him _Chāpūk_ (_Balafré_). Another time, this also in the Avenue, at the Maghāk (Fosse) Bridge[322] Abū'l-qāsim (_Kohbur Chaghatāī_) got in with his mace. Once, again [Sidenote: Fol. 40b.] in the Avenue, near the Mill-sluice, when Mīr Shāh _Qūchīn_ also got in with his mace, they cut his neck almost half-through; most fortunately the great artery was not severed.

While we were in Khān Yūrtī, some in the fort sent the deceiving message,[323] 'Come you to-night to the Lovers' Cave side and we will give you the fort.' Under this idea, we went that night to the Maghāk Bridge and from there sent a party of good horse and foot to the rendezvous. Four or five of the household foot-soldiers had gone forward when the matter got wind. They were very active men; one, known as Ḥājī, had served me from my childhood; another people called Maḥmūd _Kūndūr-sangak_.[324] They were all killed.

While we lay in Khān Yūrtī, so many Samarkandīs came out that the camp became a town where everything looked for in a town was to be had. Meantime all the forts, Samarkand excepted, and the Highlands and the Lowlands were coming in to us. As in Aūrgūt, however, a fort on the skirt of the Shavdār (var. Shādwār) range, a party of men held fast[325], of necessity we moved out from Khān Yūrtī against them. They could not maintain themselves, and surrendered, making [Sidenote: Fol. 41.] Khwāja-i-qāẓī their mediator. Having pardoned their offences against ourselves, we went back to beleaguer Samarkand.

(_b. Affairs of Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā and his son, Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā._)[326]

This year the mutual recriminations of Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā and Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā led on to fighting; here are the particulars:—Last year, as has been mentioned, Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā and Muz̤affar Ḥusain Mīrzā had been made to kneel for Balkh and Astarābād. From that time till this, many envoys had come and gone, at last even `Alī-sher Beg had gone but urge it as all did, Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā would not consent to give up Astarābād. 'The Mīrzā,' he said, 'assigned[327] it to my son, Muḥammad Mū`min Mīrzā at the time of his circumcision.' A conversation had one day between him and `Alī-sher Beg testifies to his acuteness and to the sensibility of `Alī-sher Beg's feelings. After saying many things of a private nature in the Mīrzā's ear, `Alī-sher Beg added, 'Forget these matters.'[328] 'What matters?' rejoined the Mīrzā instantly. `Alī-sher Beg was much affected and cried a good deal.

At length the jarring words of this fatherly and filial discussion went so far that _his_ father against his father, and _his_ son against his son drew armies out for Balkh and Astarābād.[329]

Up (from Harāt) to the Pul-i-chirāgh meadow, below Garzawān,[330] went Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā; down (from Balkh) came [Sidenote: Fol. 41b.] Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā. On the first day of Ramẓān (May 2nd.) Abū'l-muḥsin Mīrzā advanced, leading some of his father's light troops. There was nothing to call a battle; Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā was routed and of his braves masses were made prisoner. Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā ordered that all prisoners should be beheaded; this not here only but wherever he defeated a rebel son, he ordered the heads of all prisoners to be struck off. And why not? Right was with him. The (rebel) Mīrzās were so given over to vice and social pleasure that even when a general so skilful and experienced as their father was within half-a-day's journey of them, and when before the blessed month of Ramẓān, one night only remained, they busied themselves with wine and pleasure, without fear of their father, without dread of God. Certain it is that those so lost (_yūtkān_) will perish and that any hand can deal a blow at those thus going to perdition (_aūtkān_). During the several years of Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā's rule in Astarābād, his coterie and his following, his bare (_yālāng_) braves even, were in full splendour[4] and adornment. He had many gold and silver drinking cups [Sidenote: Fol. 42.] and utensils, much silken plenishing and countless tīpūchāq horses. He now lost everything. He hurled himself in his flight down a mountain track, leading to a precipitous fall. He himself got down the fall, with great difficulty, but many of his men perished there.[331]

After defeating Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā, Sl. Ḥusain Mīrzā moved on to Balkh. It was in charge of Shaikh `Alī T̤aghāī; he, not able to defend it, surrendered and made his submission. The Mīrzā gave Balkh to Ibrāhīm Ḥusain Mīrzā, left Muḥammad Walī Beg and Shāh Ḥusain, the page, with him and went back to Khurāsān.

Defeated and destitute, with his braves bare and his bare foot-soldiers[332], Badī`u'z-zamān Mīrzā drew off to Khusrau Shāh in Qūndūz. Khusrau Shāh, for his part, did him good service, such service indeed, such kindness with horses and camels, tents and pavilions and warlike equipment of all sorts, both for himself and those with him, that eye-witnesses said between this and his former equipment the only difference might be in the gold and silver vessels.

(_c. Dissension between Sl. Mas`ūd Mīrzā and Khusrau Shāh._)